Multiplayer Showcase looks at Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing

Multiplayer Showcase is the review show where you get to see me and some friends of mine play multiplayer games that have been long forgotten and give it a proper analysis by sharing our opinions on the game in a roundtable discussion to see how things have held up for gaming’s past brightest stars and lowest points.

This episode compares the boxing gloves to the green shells with the Mario Kart-inspired Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. I never got to play this game much with friends locally. I’ve certainly played it online some time ago, but as you might recall, there are limitations added when playing online, so playing with a group of people with everything unlocked lets everyone dig in for some four player action coupled with SEGA nostalgia.

Rumor: Sonic the Hedgehog coming to LEGO Dimensions

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LEGO fan site Brick Inquierer is reporting a rumor which says that Sonic the Hedgehog will be heading to LEGO Dimensions. For those not hip to the latest kids trends, LEGO Dimensions is a multi-platform game which allows players to scan in physical LEGO toys created for the game from a diverse range of franchises (Back to the Future, Doctor Who, Portal, Ghostbusters and The Simpsons just to name a few). You can then play as those toys within the game. All-in-all it’s a neat, though very expensive, experience.

Brick Inquierer’s rumor actually references an earlier report on code words for the game’s series 2. Code words included “S” and “KR”, which fans speculated as being Sonic and Knight Rider. Now, LEGO insider and EuroBricks forum member CM4Sci commented on the EuroBricks forums with two posts. One simply states “Sonic’s coming!”, then another reply stating, “I also know for a fact Sonic is in if that confirms anything”. Brick Inquierer added “Within the LEGO community, CM4Sci’s word is about as good as it comes. So it’s time to get excited LEGO Dimensions fans!”, so it is safe to say that this is a source that has been correct in the past.

As for the SEGAbits opinion on this rumor? Sonic in LEGO Dimensions would make a lot of sense. For one thing, SEGA has been going crazy in the past few months with the license, releasing everything from Sonic branded mud face masks to high fashion accessories. Even in the past, there was a Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed themed Erector set. LEGO Dimensions is known for some pretty oddball inclusions, so the notion that Sonic would be in the game is not crazy. Also, the addition of Sonic would allow LEGO to make the figure without having to release a full line of LEGO Sonic toys. This would also allow SEGA and LEGO to test the market for a potential expanded series of LEGO Sonic toys. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, as this is just a rumor. If we learn more, we’ll be sure to share.

[Source:Brick Inquierer]

Sonic and Puyo Puyo 25th anniversary museum exhibit will happen in Japan

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It’s been announced that a special museum exhibit for the 25th anniversary celebrations of Sonic the Hedgehog and Puyo Puyo will be hosted at the Huis Ten Bosch Game Museum between May 3rd to May 7th. This exhibit will have two floors dedicated to both franchises, with a selection of games highlighting their history. Meanwhile, a giant screen will display the games Sonic Generations and Puyo Puyo Tetris outside the venue. Merchandise from both franchises will also be available at the venue.

SEGA Memories: Looking back on Fleetway’s Sonic the Comic

s5Remember when Knuckles used to ride a pterodactyl? Remember that time Eggman was called “Kintobor”? And who could forget how Super Sonic was Sonic’s evil split personality? What’s that? You don’t remember? Well then, you’ve probably never seen Fleetway’s unique spin on the Sonic universe before.

Whether you’ve read it or not, most people are at least a little familiar with Archie’s long running comic series based on the blue blur. However, as a poor little English boy, I grew up with quite a different set of comics in my youth. In this installment of SEGA Memories, I look back on this unique moment in Sonic history.

Review: SEGA 3D Classics Collection (Nintendo 3DS)

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SEGA 3D Classics Collection is the latest in the long line of compilations that SEGA loves to produce. For years the company has to rereleased various titles in a neat packages for convenience, often times Genesis titles from the golden days. Examples include both Sonic Mega Collection and Sonic Gems Collection, SEGA Genesis Collection, and SEGA Smash Pack. However, few of these compilations were released on handheld systems, and often times arcade games would get the short end of the stick. So SEGA 3D Classics Collection is a bit special in this case since it has several games that you don’t normally see in these compilations like Power Drift, Puyo Puyo Tsu, and Maze Walker.

SEGA Talk: Our Ideal Sonic 25th Anniversary Game (Feat. Matt from Tails’ Channel)

Welcome to our newest video series, SEGA Talk! Like SEGA News Bits, SEGA Talk features hosts George and Barry discussing all things SEGA. However, instead of detailing the latest in SEGA news, we bring on a guest to take part in a round table SEGA discussion. To kick things off we are joined by Matt from Tails’ Channel to share what we think the ideal Sonic 25th anniversary game would be.

Want the SEGA Talk crew to tackle a topic? Submit topics and questions for future SEGA Talk episodes, as well as suggestions for guests, using our handy contact form or you can leave a comment below or on the YouTube video.

If you enjoy the SEGA Talk, make sure to like, share and subscribe to our YouTube for more.

Fastest Food Alive: A look back at the 1993 & 1995 Sonic the Hedgehog Cookie Crisp Cereal promotions

Our Fastest Food Alive video series continues as we look at more food promotional items from Sonic the Hedgehog’s past! Last time we took a trip to McDonald’s, this time we’re staying home and having breakfast. What’s on the menu? Cookie Crisp Cereal! In 1993 and 1995, Sonic was a toy surprise in specially marked boxes of the chocolate chip cookie inspired cereal. First as a plastic figure in 1993, oddly standing on a skateboard, and again in 1995 as a set of 16 POGS. Remember those things? Click play on the video above and take a trip down memory lane as we check out this food promotions and give a short history lesson on Cookie Crisp Cereal.

If you enjoyed the video make sure to like, share and subscribe to us on YouTube if you haven’t already. Thanks for the support!

Big’s Big Fishing Adventure 3 The Trial is a real game that you can play right now!

Screen Shot 2016-04-01 at 9.19.13 AMIt has been teased for the past few months, but now we can confirm it is real. That’s right, Big’s Big Fishing Adventure 3 is a real fan made game that you can play right now! What more, while it is fan made it does have the support of SEGA’s Aaron Webber and the Sonic the Hedgehog social media accounts. This is The Trial edition of the game, meaning it is only a tease of the full game. However, despite being released on April Fool’s day, we can confirm that The Trail is not a joke and that there will indeed be a full game in the near future. The game can be found at www.bigthec.at and features static cutscenes, branching paths, and a variety of mini games which we won’t spoil here.

For those wondering why this game is the third in the series, aside from being an obvious Sonic Adventure 3 joke, this is actually Big’s third fishing game. Big first dropped his line in Sonic Adventure, and his second game entitled Big’s Fishing released in 2004 as a part of a McDonald’s Happy Meal LCD games collection. Sonic Heroes, Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing and Sonic Runners don’t count because there was no fishing, an omission that clearly hurt sales.

I am proud to confirm that I played a very very small part, as the Big the Cat action figure you see upon completing the game is from my collection. Which means my Big the Cat toy visited SEGA’s Burbank offices before I did. 🙁

Play the game for yourself, and in the comments below tell us what you think!

Takashi Iizuka returns to America

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Director of the Sonic series since Sonic Adventure up to Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Takashi Iizuka has served diligently as vice president of product development over in Japan since Sonic Team USA’s closure in 2008. However, he seems to now be leading a charge of some sort at SEGA America, a quote provided from Gamasuta attributed to Tatsuyuki Miyazaki states: “Plus, the Sonic business team, with Ivo’s strong leadership and the addition of renowned Sonic Team creator Iizuka in the Los Angeles office, SEGA of America is in the best position yet to diversify and grow its business. SEGA of America is entering new age of publishing[sic], and going back to the road to prosperity.” This news coincides with SEGA finalizing their acquisition of Atlus USA, whose CEO, Naoto Hiraoka, seems very excited to be working with the company.

It’s likely no coincidence that these two events happen alongside each other. Nor is it a coincidence that Iizuka returns to America at the new Los Angeles office just as things start rolling for Sonic’s 25th anniversary. There’s very little to speculate on what it could all mean, however. The press release is vague about exactly what Iizuka’s plans are; strengthening the ‘global brand’ is something brought up a couple times, but that’s about it. It could just as well mean he’s back in the US to oversee the 25th Anniversary project, or perhaps get directly involved. He could also just be stopping by to appear at events, many of which are in the coming months, both official and fan-sponsored. Whatever the case, we’ll keep you all posted on any news bits surrounding Iizuka or Sonic that appear.

(Img. from Aaraon Webber)

Game Symphony Japan SEGA Special Event to focus on anniversary titles

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Game Symphony Japan, a Japanese concert that focuses on creating orchestrated music from varies video game titles, will host a special SEGA themed event as part of it’s 17th line of concerts, which will focus on the anniversaries of Sonic the Hedghehog, Puyo Puyo, and NiGHTS into Dreams…. This is the second time a special SEGA event will be hosted on Game Symphony Japan, with the 14th line also including a SEGA event last year that focused on varies classic SEGA titles.

The concert will open on July 17th 2016 at 17:30pm (5:30pm) Japan Standard Time at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space Theater Concert Hall, with the price of submission ¥8,500 ($76), ¥7,500 ($67), or ¥6,500 ($58) depending on seating. Tickets can be purchased from PIA Japan, ePlus, or I-tike.

[Source: Game Symphony Japan official site]

 

 

SEGA Announces Sonic 25th Anniversary Party in July during San Diego Comic Con

Sonic25thAnniversaryPartyDuring SEGA’s SxSW panel, which was filled with Sonic the Hedgehog alumni including series developers Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka. SEGA announced that they will be having a Sonic 25th Anniversary Party on July . The party will be held in San Diego and tickets are already on sale! Tickets cost $25 dollars and can be purchased online at Universe.com/Sonic25.

This was the announcement that Sonic the Hedgehog teased for the event, even if Sonic fans want it to be the Sonic 25th Anniversary game instead. Who knows, maybe that’s what will be shown at the Sonic 25th Anniversary party?

After the break, read the full event description.

Sonic and SEGA print collections from Iron Gut Publishing announced for the UK, art event revealed

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Iron Gut Publishing has announced via a press release that they will be creating art prints for SEGA’s Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, as well as other SEGA IPs including Shinobi, Golden Axe and Streets of Rage. The collection is timed to release alongside Sonic’s 25th anniversary, and Iron Gut Publishing promises an art event which will feature the upcoming prints. At the moment, this is UK only. No word on if those from outside the UK can import the prints.

It is also worth noting that “art collaborations” were revealed last month at Tomy’s booth at New York Toy Fair. This seems to be what that Sonic poster was referring to.

Iron Gut Publishing, the company that specialises in creating limited edition art collections for global brands have signed a UK license with SEGA® Europe Ltd.

The art collection will feature the iconic video game character Sonic the Hedgehog, as well as a host of other classic brands from the SEGA video game portfolio including Golden Axe™, Streets of Rage™ and Revenge of Shinobi™.

2016 is the 25th anniversary year of Sonic and we will be organising an art event to celebrate this which will showcase the collection to fans. The event will allow us to drive awareness and increase visibility of both the brand and collection available.– Anthony Marks, M.D Iron Gut Publishing.

Framed products will be available from bricks and mortar stores and unframed for mail order and online sales. The range will be available from Q2 2016.

[Via: GoNintendo]

Sonic the Hedgehog 25th anniversary events detailed, and more!

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The Tomy booth at New York’s Toy Fair was seemingly plastered with signs detailing Sonic information, as evidenced by our past two news posts. We’ve received word on game release dates, learned that Sonic Boom the TV series will be receiving a second season, and learned about several upcoming events planned for Sonic’s 25th anniversary. Upcoming events include a Game Developers Conference Party hosted by SGN (who we assume are these guys), with celebrations planned for Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom, as well as 25 years of Sonic as well as art and music. Expect this event to be held in mid-March as GDC runs from March 14-18. Next up, Sonic will be at SXSW with a History of Sonic panelDetails of the panel can be found online, with the panel taking place on Saturday, March 19th from 3:30PM-4:45PM and will be hosted by Sonic social media manager Aaron Webber, SEGA director of product development Austin Keys, voice actors Mike Pollock and Roger Craig Smith, Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka, and Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka. Wait, and they are only giving these guys 45 minutes? Sounds like a great panel that could easily run another hour.

SEGA News Bits: Sonic the Hedgehog Movie to Release in 2018

We ran the story about how SEGA-Sammy’s CEO Hajime Satomi confirmed that the Sonic the Hedgehog movie was coming out in 2018. Now listen to two grown men talk about the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie, our thoughts and reactions to waiting until 2018 for the full film. Not only that, we go over all the details we already know about the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie.

If you want more SEGA News Bits, make sure to follow us on our YouTube channel and never miss an episode.